Letters: Battle over attack ads

Re “Both parties unfazed as ads fail fact-check,” Aug. 11

The article misses the point of these political ads.

The Democratic ad featuring former steel mill worker Joe Soptic — who said his wife died of cancer after he lost his job and health insurance following his company’s acquisition by Bain Capital — is demonstrably true. What your opinion of those facts may be is up to you, but the facts are true and recited calmly.

By contrast, the ad by Mitt Romney’s campaign accusing President Obama of “gutting” welfare reform is a complete lie. The changes to be made were asked for by Republican governors and involve only the ability of the states to tweak their own programs, which would seem to conform with conservatives’ views on states’ rights.

These distinctions are important in understanding the differences between the two parties in this most divisive and unpleasant campaign.

Alix Fargo

Altadena

California’s Republicans may lament living in a state that tilts so heavily Democratic as to make the winner of our electoral votes a foregone conclusion, but there’s a silver lining to this electoral cloud: None of us will have to suffer the onslaught of both parties’ sleazy attack ads that will inundate the airwaves in battleground states until Nov. 6.

Gary Dolgin

Santa Monica

The airwaves are a public resource. So why not have a law that requires every political ad to be fact-checked and approved before it can be aired on television?

Kurt Meidinger

Beaumont

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